Category: Farming

The Press Herald and the Forecaster are reporting that South Portland City Council has voted to allow the farmers market to return to Hinkley Drive in 2013.

City officials had been reluctant to grant the market permission to operate on the site next to Mill Creek Park and a credit union because the busy road would have to be closed for several hours every Thursday.

But after the city’s Planning Board voted last week to give the farmers’ market a special exception permit, councilors voted Wednesday night to allow the road closure.

The Bangor Daily News has published an article and video interview with the founders of Fluid Farms.

The nascent two-man company has in two summers outgrown a 500-square-foot greenhouse attached to the craft-brewing Urban Farm Fermentory in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood, which co-founder and fisheries biologist Tyler Gaudet called a “backyard-scale” operation. Now, Fluid Farms is beginning to clear a site in North Yarmouth for a 25,000-square-foot version, a building they believe will be Maine’s first commercial-scale aquaponics facility.

Fluid Farms is running a Kickstarter campaign to fund their new aquaponics greenhouse.

The Portland Daily Sun has published an article about Fluid Farms, an aquaponic farm that’s been operating in Bayside for 2 years growing herbs, greens and fish.

“We have outgrown our cramped in-town greenhouse and have decided to expand. Powered by the momentum of the past two years of operation, we have committed to an expansion and purchased a production-scale 2,600-square foot greenhouse. We are building and moving into our new greenhouse this spring.”

Owners Tyler Gaudet and Jackson Mcleod are using Kickstarter to get the capital they need to expand their business. They have met their initial goal of $5,000 and are stretching to $10k which would enable them to increase the length of their growing season.

You can follow their progress on Facebook.

This week’s edition of the Portland Phoenix has an article about growing garlic and the plant diseases that afflict the crop in Maine.

As a garlic connoisseur, you should learn your varieties. Commercial growers favor softneck garlic (Silverskins and Artichokes), which stores better, lends itself to braids, and yields more concentrated — albeit smaller and harder to peel — cloves. Home gardeners and small farmers often plant hardneck (Porcelain, Rocambole, and Purple Stripe) varieties for their marketable scapes and large, meaty cloves. Nate Drummond of Six River Farm in Bowdoinham grows mostly Music and German Extra Hardy garlic, juicy, white-skinned Porcelain breeds.

The Forecaster has published an article about the community of farms in Cape Elizabeth.

She said despite having so many farms, the owners don’t really compete for customers. Instead, the farmers often collaborate and help out where they’re needed in each other’s operations, which is part of the reason they’re able to be successful.

The Press Herald Food & Dining section has published an article on syrup grading,

Take that darker syrup, which in Maine is called Grade A Extra Dark Amber. In Vermont and New Hampshire, that same syrup would be labeled Grade B. In New York, the label might read “Extra Dark for Cooking.” And in Canada, it’s called “No. 2 Amber.”

and The Root blog has published an article about Maine Maple Sunday.

The 1983 Maine Maple Sunday was the first-in-the-nation event. A dozen Maine producers hosted open houses. “Come and see Maine maple syrup made,” they broadcast. Entertainment featured syrup making, sleigh rides, sap collecting tours, syrup tasting, pancake breakfasts, maple sundaes, and syrup selling. Acceptance by the public was unexpectedly high. Maple Hill Farm in Farmington counted 1500 visitors.

The Broadturn Farm Blog has a new post about the renovation and repurposing of their barn and other outbuildings.

The buildings at Broadturn Farm have been a consistent focus over the years. The farmstead space is graced with a collection of connected buildings and stand alone outbuildings. It has a quintessential New England working farm aesthetic. Each building has been one thing, an then another. Renovated and re-renovated, torn down and re-built, these structures have evolved as the various enterprises of the farm saw periods of success and growth. Dating back to the early 1800s, the buildings tell us a story of who came before us and the legacy of hard work that is required to make a living off the land.